Rants, ramblings, reviews, reports. By Ross

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STORM CLOUDS ROLLING INTO BANGKOK

I haven’t blogged for a while (okay it’s a bit longer than a while, but who’s counting) but now’s probably as good a time as ever to start again. We’ve had a thunderstorm nearly every day for the past week. But it is no comparison to the dark clouds hovering over Bangkok tonight.

Because tomorrow the Bangkok courts will likely order the removal of Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. And for good measure it might also try and throw out her entire Cabinet. No doubt what she and her Cabinet did was clumsy and smells of nepotism, but surely not enough to warrant her impeachment.

It will be the latest ridiculous development in a very bad soap opera that’s been running through Thailand for six months. Actually it’s been running for years, but it really got stupid about six months ago.

To cut a long story short, you have a mob (the yellow shirts) who haven’t won an election for a very long time, but still haven’t got their head around how a democracy works. So they’ve been doing everything they can to try and throw the current mob out.

And it seems they have the courts and the so-called Corruption Commission on side.

So what will happen to Thailand when tomorrow’s decision is handed down? Here’s a clue. The current Government has a lot (enough to win several elections) of very passionate supporters (the red shirts). Who are heavily armed. And who are reportedly on their way to Bangkok tonight to ‘prepare’ for tomorrow’s court decision.

Whatever happens tomorrow, Thailand is unlikely to emerge any time soon from this shambles it finds itself in. The system is too corrupted, there are too many self-interested people, and there is no compromise position.

The last couple of months have been a real revelation in Bangkok. With the protesters gone and the streets open again it’s allowed Bangkok to be revealed for what it is – one of the world’s most exciting, prosperous and welcoming cities.

I’m glad I got to experience it. It might not present itself again for a very long time.